Page 65 of Dax: Gratefully Bonded

Goroz stood up and came forward, and I couldn’t help but tense as I waited to see what he would say. While I hadn’t been involved in his side of preparations in anything like the amount of depth I had for the Alliance side, I had nonetheless given him some pertinent tips about how to appeal to Alliance morals and how to sidestep the worst of the cultural clashes we might be likely to run into.

“The Ranzor Council thanks you for your welcome,” he said to Associate Pol, and I gave a mental shrug as I decided it was an acceptable greeting. The Ranzors were not prone to effusive speeches, and everyone in attendance had been warned that they were likely to be rather more direct and succinct than we were accustomed to. “It has been an honour to work with a collective that has displayed as much courage as any Ranzor. Your soldiers are impressive, and they provide hope in a galaxy that can sometimes be a very dark place. But more than simple courage, or skill in battle, the Alliance military forces have demonstrated commitment to another hallmark of Ranzor culture – that being the value of freedom, of the right for a species to carve out their own path, without the fear of threat or coercion from those who would seek to overpower us. And it is on this basis that we believe the Ranzors and the Alliance can find the commonground needed to forge a treaty, for two collectives who, on the surface, may seem to have little in common…”

With the subtlest of movements, I felt Dax’s hand land on my own, and he gave me a gentle squeeze. It was then that I realised I was holding my breath, and I let it out slowly, relaxing my shoulders and unclenching my fists.

It was a good start to the meeting, with both sides eager to find our common ground, rather than focusing on our differences. These talks would likely go on for several months, with plenty of need for intensive research, long planning meetings, the delicate smoothing over of inevitable misunderstandings, and some collective soul searching, as the Alliance weighed up the values of another culture, deciding which parts of it we could accept, and which parts we needed to push back against. And somehow, amongst it all, I’d found myself with the new title of Ranzor Liaison Officer, while Dax had now been officially enrolled in the Alliance Military, with the rank of Sergeant and the job title of Support Coordinator – not just for me, but for half a dozen other soldiers who were currently struggling to deal with the trauma of injuries, failed missions, or the death of teammates.

He was excelling in his new role, managing to find the right balance of gentleness and bossiness to get his charges to participate in their own treatment, while giving them the space and flexibility to manage their various anxieties at the same time.

I squeezed Dax’s hand back, then returned my attention to Goroz’s speech. The future was looking brighter than it had for a long time – for me, for Dax, and for the Alliance as a whole. And I couldn’t have been more grateful for the chance to share it with him.

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